Notre Dame vs. Michigan last Saturday was an eyesore – except to those who hate both teams and rooted for chaos – but there were, nonetheless, many eyes sore. The game drew a 4.0 Nielsen rating on NBC, the highest of the day. It outdrew the top ten meeting between Florida State and Clemson on ESPN (3.2) and Oklahoma vs. Kansas State on FOX (1.7) head to head. If you question why Notre Dame is still relevant, there is your answer.

Despite beating out everything, that was a down year for ND/Mich, the worst since 2007. ND/Mich drew a 4.8 rating on ESPN last year. Notre Dame was cavalier about maintaining its Big Ten rivalries with the ACC agreement. One wonders how NBC will feel about that after a couple Duke showdowns.